is working for an ad agency a good path into film?

[randomname]

I'm about to graduate college in may, and I just got a job offer for an ad agency and am not quite sure what to do. It's just an internship so it won't pay much, but my goal is to be working on film sets, not commercials. Does a lot of work in commericals look good/would I be meeting a lot of people who also work in film or would I basically be starting from square one once I decide to start working on movies?

 

[cyclone]

An ad agency is a great place to get your foot in the door (assuming that you can get into the production dept.). It allows you to interact with "players". I stayed in advertising because I like it, but you can also use it to look around and take advantage of other opportunities, since many of the feature guys (both directors and D.P.'s) also work in commercials.

 

[Paul Hudson]

It worked for me many many years ago. The key is to find the right agency and get in the right department.

 

[craigbowman]

Anything can be a path if you decide it is.

 

[chromeboy007]

Didn't think even the largest agency hires any video people full time. Maybe Flash and After Effects specialists, but not production peeps. True?

 

[Butcher]

Depends on the agency. The agency I'm working at has a 3 person post production department, but we hire out for shoots/audio mixing. All editing/compressions/motion graphics are handled in house, everything else is farmed out. I've worked at smaller agencies in smaller markets that do everything in house, but expect you to do everything whether you're good at it or not (very one-man-band stuff). This can work in smaller markets, not so much in larger ones.

When you get to the really big agencies like BBDO and Saatchi+Saatchi, etc...they might have some production divisions, but the national spots you see typically go through post houses. I used to do a lot of first step commercials for some of these agencies - they could have hired someone in house to do them, but it's easier just to hire a post place and then they don't have the cost of health insurance, equipment, salary even when the work slows down, etc...